n00b with questions!

[IrScientist]

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Hello all! I found this forum as I was looking around trying to find information for special needs cresties and adult enclosures. Almost all of the literature/care guides focus on their loving to be arboreal but doesn’t take much consideration into animals who are being kept as pets who would not have made it in a world with predation.

My new hatchling is special needs. Their back legs are deformed and while they are very mobile and can even jump the floppy back feet mean they can only still to the sides of the enclosure with their front legs. Has anyone else dealt with this...looking around it seems fairly common in photos to have one leg develop this way but I’ve not seen another animal with both. Any experienced keepers have tips for successful enclosures and set ups once we get past the grow-out and hatchling phase? I had planned to set up a 2.5ftH x 2ftL x 2ftW but I wonder if I should offer that much height given challenges.
01770F43-B4CA-457C-9E73-EE142F16ED70.jpg

[acpart]

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I haven't dealt with this situation, but I think it makes sense to see whether your crestie can do any better climbing cork bark than smooth glass. If the cork bark doesn't work, then see how it does with vinyl mesh (like window screens). At that small size and with the climbing problem, you should probably start your crestie out in a much smaller enclosure. When I was breeding cresties, I kept hatchlings in 6qt shoebox size tubs with a coconut shell hide, a small water bowl, a small bowl for CGD and a piece of cork bark or bamboo (cork bark is rougher and would be better for yours) that I laid between the top of the hide and the bottom of the enclosure so it was at about a 45 degree angle. This provides a place to hide and a place to climb.
If your crestie can handle climbing up the rough surface of cork bark, you can lean cork slabs against the sides of the enclosure (this is what I do for my gargoyles who don't stick as well as the cresties). If that doesn't work, likely your crestie can climb up vinyl mesh and then you can either attach it to the sides of the enclosure or to some attractive wood pieces near the sides of the enclosure.

Aliza